Into the Past
by KaeterinaRomanov
Summary: Zera Dreyar is the daughter of the ninth master of Fairy Tail. Her world is wartorn but Fairy Tail persists through it. Zera is knocked into the past due to a demon's power. How is she going to react to her whole family being years younger than she knows? How is she going to get back home? What adventures will she have in the past?
1. Chapter 1

Zera Dreyar was less than a month away from her eleventh birthday when she disappeared. The world she was born into was dark and war-torn, but it did have its moments. She was a proud member of Fairy Tail's next generation. In fact, her dad was the ninth master of the guild. She was the daughter of Laxus and Mirajane, two of the most powerful wizards in Fairy Tail. While Fairy Tail was still as family focused as always, the kids born in the last thirteen years were forced to grow up rather quickly. They were at War with Zeref, his demons, and Alvarez. The war had started nine years ago, and it hasn't stopped since.

While Zera couldn't do much, though she did have very strong magic, she did help as much as she could. Her mom was very protective of her and she got very twitchy if she got anywhere close to the battlefield. So, to help where she could Zera dedicated her free time to watching all of the kids younger than her. She was the third oldest of her group, the only ones older than her were Liam and Fay. Fay was three years older than her, but she had decided to start fighting back against Zeref. Fay was her cousin as she was the daughter of Uncle Elfman and Aunt Evergreen. She took fighting the enemy seriously, but when she was out of battle, she was rather mean and bitchy. Very much full of herself. Liam was six months older than her and was the son of Gajeel and Levy. Liam was her best friend and he spent most of his time training his magic. He was extremely eager to start helping in the war, as was she. She spent a good amount of time training herself, but not nearly as much as her best friend. Their whole group was pretty big and it was sometimes a struggle keeping control of everyone. Including herself and Liam, not counting Fay, there were seventeen of them. Ages ranged from eleven to two-years-old. Plus, Aunt Erza and Aunt Lucy were both pregnant again.

Her job of protecting the kids was the main cause of her disappearance. She had recruited some of her older charges to help entertain the younger ones as there was no way she could entertain them all on her own. That was when the alarms started blaring, their hideout was compromised. She spread out the younger ones, who couldn't run by themselves, to the older ones and led the way to the secret exit to make their way to the nearest safehouse. It was all going well until one of Zeref's newest humanoid demons cornered them. Nobody knew what the demon's powers truly were. She worked with black beams that caused a lot of pain, but at times she would shoot out black spheres that would suck people into them. Those people were never seen from again, nobody knew if those people were alive or not. She had seen Uncle Jet get hit by one a year ago and nobody had seen him since.

She had screamed out a telepathic SOS to Warren and had sighed in relief when she heard an instantaneous reply. Mest teleported to them and started getting the kids somewhere safe. He could only take a few with him at a time so Liam and herself were doing their best to distract the demon. They had a good system from practicing with each other all the time and were playing a version of tag and keep away. They were almost in the clear when Zera saw something that made her eyes go wide in horror. One of those strange black spheres was heading straight towards Igneel, Natsu and Lucy's second child. Zera's body moved without thinking. She rushed to Igneel and practically body slammed him out of the way. Now Zera wasn't in the best shape to begin with, from her brief fight with the much stronger demon. She also had a slash on her arm that held her guild mark that was a few days old, but she could tell that it had re-opened as the bandages felt wet. She had trained really hard this morning as well, so she had gone into the battle not at full strength. As the sphere of magic made contact with her, however, it felt like every nerve in her body was being stabbed. As she started getting sucked into the black void, she felt her partner Bix collide into her stomach to stick close to her. She unconsciously was grateful to him; he had been with her as long as she could remember. She grabbed hold of him as best as she could, she really didn't want to get separated from him if this sphere thing didn't kill her outright. Right before she disappeared into the blackness, she heard many people calling out to her desperately. Her only thought was, "Sorry Mommy, sorry Daddy." And then she was gone. Zera Dreyar was officially marked as MIA.

It seemed like eternity passed in the total blackness that Zera found herself in. She was floating in a void that brought nothing but pain. The pain never stopped, she honestly didn't know if the pain was real or just in her head. She didn't remember getting any injuries that would match these pains, but that didn't make the actual pain go away. She couldn't see anything around her, only herself floating in a world of blackness. She didn't know how long she floated in the black void, though with how hungry she was, she was guessing it was a couple days at least.

Just as she thought about giving into the void something started to shine within the darkness. One moment there was nothing and the next think she knew there was a pretty woman floating in front of her.

She was tall, with long black hair. A glass orb was tucked under one of her arms. A soft smile appeared on her face as she ran a comforting hand through Zera's hair, "Do not fear little one, that demon made a mistake sending you to a domain I can actually interfere with. I felt it the moment you got sent here, I am sorry it took me so long to find you. While I cannot send you directly back to your time as that demon would notice and I would not be able to help you, I can put you somewhere close. From there you will have to figure out your own way home. It will be hard, but it is possible."

"Who are you?" Zera managed to croak out, her hold on Bix tightening.

An unreadable smile stretched over her face, "An old friend of your uncle Gray's. Ah, also do not be afraid of possibly damaging your present as the moment you arrive the timeline will be split. Good luck little warrior."

Then with a sudden push her world was suddenly filled with light. Then she was plummeting towards her death. She clung tightly to Bix; not wanting to get parted from him, not after all of this. She screamed in her mind, 'how is this supposed to help her?'

The moment that thought left her mind a real scream broke out of her dry throat and she couldn't seem to stop it. She felt Bix wiggling in a panic at her predicament and she willed him to hold still. As she got closer to the ground, that was way too green, her mind took note of she screamed out the first thing that came to her mind, "Happy!"

It was a well-known fact that if you somehow found yourself free falling, which happened more that one would expect, you were to call out for an exceed. Happy was usually the one to save her, though Panther Lily was a close second. All the members of Fairy Tail, and allied guilds, wore a type of harness. It basically made it so there were handles on their backs that made it easier for exceeds to grab onto.

Just as she was about to enter the tree line, trees that had leaves on them, she felt someone grab hold of the harness. She jerked to a stop and she looked up, sighing in relief. She caught a glimpse of the blue fur of her favorite exceed.

"Don't worry kid, I got you. You're safe now." Happy called out. His voice sounded a bit weird, but Zera brushed it off as a side effect of her near-death experience.

"Thanks Uncle Happy." She managed to mumble out before losing consciousness, her exhaustion catching up to her as she realized she was finally safe now. She somehow miraculously didn't lose her hold on Bix. Since she was passed out, she didn't notice Happy's moment of complete shock at the little stranger calling him uncle. Not only did she somehow know his name, but she was claiming him as family?

Bix, however, noticed and grew concerned. Why didn't Happy recognize Zera? He continued to hold still, pretending to be simply a toy. Something was wrong and until he figured out what it was it was best to hold their cards close to their chests. Bix's nonexistent heart sunk as he saw Natsu and Lucy catch up to where Happy had laid Zera on the ground. This was not their Natsu and Lucy, they were way too young!

Lucy studied the unconscious child Natsu had balanced on his back. They had absolutely no idea where she had come from. One moment they were by themselves on the way back from a mission, the next there was a screaming child falling form the sky. Natsu had said her scent had appeared out of nowhere. She was young, at least a few years younger than Wendy. She was a really pretty kid; she'll be a knockout when she grows up. There was something about the kid made her mind think she was familiar, but Lucy knew that she had never met the kid before. She would definitely remember a kid like this. Lucy looked closer, trying to appease her mind's curiosity. The kid had messy light blonde hair that fell slightly past her shoulders. She couldn't tell if it was naturally messy, or if it was because of the freefall. It was such a light blonde that when the sun caught it just right as they walked it almost looked white. There was a light scar on her left temple, though it didn't take away from her natural beauty. She was wearing a dirty and slightly ripped purple dress that stopped just before her knees. Underneath the dress she had noticed she was wearing a pair of grey shorts. Lucy was impressed; most kids didn't bother with sensibility, they just wanted to look cute. The weird harness thing that Happy had used to catch her was strapped tightly around her shoulders. A black knapsack hung low on her back, most likely to avoid interfering with the use of the harness. She was clutching a metal sphere, with one arm now, that had a face painted on it. The eyes were uneven X's and the mouth was a smile with its tongue sticking out. Honestly it looked similar to Bixlow's totems0, only instead of wooden cubes it was a metal sphere. Lucy knew that sphere was very important to the girl because even though she was unconscious her grip didn't loosen on it. Lucy's gaze traveled to the girl's left arm, there was a bandage that started at her wrist and coiled up past her shoulder. There was a bit of red bleeding through the dirty wrappings. Overall the kid looked pretty beat up. Lucy let out a sigh, they were really close to the guild hall now. Lucy was hoping that Wendy was in as she was their best healer and the kid looked like she needed help.

A few minutes later they found themselves at the guildhall's front door. Natsu kicked them open and yelled out, "Yo, Wendy you here?"

Wendy quickly stood up from her spot sitting next to Levy and Gajeel, "Natsu? What's wrong?"

Lucy rushed towards Wendy as Natsu made his way straight to the infirmary. Lucy grabbed hold of Wendy and started dragging her along, "We found a kid on our way back. She's really hurt and we need you to heal her." Lucy explained quickly. She vaguely realized that Gajeel was tagging along. The dragon slayers have been becoming much closer as of late and Gajeel had been exceptionally protective of the youngest slayer.

"Really? Is she going to be alright? Who is she? What are her injuries?" Wendy fired of questions worriedly.

"Don't know who she is, she fell out of the sky. I know she has a previous injury on her arm as she has it bandaged, but it's bleeding through. She has small cuts and bruises all over, but overall, she seems mostly fine. She passed out when Happy caught her and she hasn't so much as twitched yet." Lucy answered as best as she could.

Wendy nodded, entering a healer's mindset. They entered the medical room and saw Natsu reclining in a chair next to a blonde-haired child, "Alright you know the drill, everyone out while I take care of her." Wendy ordered.

Natsu frowned slightly, "Are you sure Wendy?" he didn't like the idea of leaving her alone with a stranger who literally appeared out of nowhere. Even if she was younger than Wendy.

"She deserves privacy, I'll be fine." Wendy said as she made her way over to the kid. Lucy nodded in understanding and left immediately, looking forward to a strawberry smoothie. Natsu hesitated for a moment but nodded before leaving. Wendy turned to look at Gajeel who had plopped himself into a chair on the opposite side of the room, "Gajeel?"

"Not like I can see much from here Pigtails. Just got comfy and I don't feel like moving." He grunted as he leaned the chair back, closing his eyes.

Wendy sighed with a smile, that was just his way of showing he cared. With a shake of her head she turned to the girl she was about to heal. As long as Gajeel stayed on the other side of the room that would give her patient just enough privacy.

She held her hands over the girl and activated her magic. As she didn't have any major injuries that needed immediate attention, she looked inwards first. She let out a sigh of relief when she found no internal damage. The girl was a bit dehydrated and her magic was a bit low as well. Honestly her low magic was the biggest concern at the moment. She didn't want the girl to get sick from magic deficiency. The young and old were both more at risk from getting sick from magic deficiency. Wendy directed her magic to heal the minor cuts and bruises. When she moved to heal the obvious injury under the bandages on her left arm she paused. Her magic could hardly do anything to the wound at all. She was surprised for a moment, but then remembered that there were weapons and magical attacks that were resistant to healing magic. This was an injury that would just have to heal on its own. She would have to change the bandages though. The ones she had on were dirty and had been bleeding through for a while. It really made her mad though that someone attacked this kid in the first place. Honestly, what was wrong with some people?

She needed to get the girl to let go of the sphere she was clutching with her left arm first though. She very gently pulled the sphere away and placed it carefully on the table next the to bed. She vaguely realized that Natsu must have taken the girl's bag off and placed that next to the bed as well.

As Wendy unwound the bandages, she saw something that made her heart skip a beat, and it wasn't the long slash going down her arm. On the girl's left shoulder was a dark blue Fairy Tail symbol. She gave a small gasp that pulled Gajeel's attention to her.

He stood up abruptly and made his way over to her, "What's wrong Pigtails?" then his gaze caught the guild mark as well. His gaze narrowed in suspicion; how did this kid have a guild mark? He had never seen her before and he knew every guild member, even the less known ones. Or the secret ones. He did act as a spy for the old man at times and it helped to know all the members of the guild in case, he had to help them out or purposefully avoid them.

"I'm going to get the old man. If she even stirs call out, got it Pigtails?" Gajeel commanded seriously.

Recognizing her elder brother figure's tone, she nodded. This wasn't a time to argue the fact that she could take care of herself. There was no way this child should have a guild mark. This was very much a serious matter. Neither of them noticed the metal sphere shift slightly in worry as Gajeel made his way out the door.

Bix was getting really worried, he had watched and listened to everything as Zera barely kept a hold of him. Everything was wrong. Trees were everywhere on their way back to the guildhall. Most have gotten destroyed or burned down throughout the years of war and the ones that did still stand no longer bore leaves to them. Magnolia was still standing, no longer a pile of burnt rubble. The old guild hall was standing from its glory days. He hadn't seen it like this for over nine years now, it was kinda nice. However, everyone was younger, way too young. He almost had a heart attack when he saw Wendy as her tiny little self again. This all looked like some time before the first war with Zeref but after they all came back from the seven missing years. He had seen Evergreen on their walk to the infirmary and she wasn't pregnant and she didn't have fay with her so this had to be at least fourteen years ago. His non-existent heart had skipped a beat when he saw himself, still alive, sitting next to Evergreen. They were in the past and that couldn't be a good thing. How was that even possible? Who was that lady that showed up in the void and sent them here? He was going to have to direct Zera to talk to Gray about the woman when she woke up. How was he going to get himself and his charge out of this? How were they going to get back home? Oh Mavis, Laxus was going to kill him again when they got back. His attention came back to reality when Gajeel and Master Makarov came into the infirmary. They both have serious looks on their faces. Uh oh, that doesn't look good. In the back of his mind he knew that Makarov would never hurt Zera, but he was extremely protective of his little charge. He had died for her after all.

"Very well I'm here now, what seems to be the problem. You were rather vague out there Gajeel." Makarov said looking between the three people in the room, even though one was unconscious.

"Well you see Master; she had a wound on her arm that is resistant to healing magic so I had to take her bandages off. When I did, we found this." Wendy explained as he gestured to the mystery girl's guild mark.

Makarov's eyes went wide, "How in the world?" he walked over to the unconscious child. He had never met this child before in his life, so how did she have his guilds' mark. He looked her over closely. She had light blonde, almost white, hair. Pale skin with freckles scattered across her face. He could see a few light scars across her body, the most prominent one was the scar on her temple. In the back of his mind he thought that she might look familiar, but that was impossible. He had his magic wash gently over her and her mark was real, there was no mistaking the magic of the guild mark. So somehow this child had been marked as a member of the guild, but it would to have been okayed by him first. Who was this child?

"Wendy dear, if you have finished healing her, I would like you to head back down." Makarov said, his gaze not leaving the child on the bed.

"Oh, course Master. I've finished wrapping up the slash on her arm right before you came back in. I hope you can figure this all out Master." Wendy said as she started heading towards the door.

"Ah, until we figure everything out, so at least until this wayward child wakes up, I would like you to keep her guild mark to yourself. No need to cause unneeded chaos." Makarov called out to her.

"Very well Master. Please keep me updated on her health if anything changes." Wendy almost made it out the door when she paused, "Oh, yeah. Master her magic reserves are really low and she's rather dehydrated. If anything changes for the worse let me know, I'll give her another boost with my magic."

Gajeel watched the door close behind Pigtails before he turned to the other resident in the room, "So, what are we gunna do with the kid, old man?"

"I am not sure yet. It shouldn't be possible for her to have the guild mark, but it is not a fake. We might just have to wait for her to wake up and we'll be able to ask her questions then." His gaze went to the metal sphere sitting on the bedside table before moving down to the bag sitting next to the bed, "Have any of you checked her possessions?"

"Nah, not yet. I doubt that Natsu would have thought to look through her stuff. Pigtails was more worried about healing the kid and I was more worried about making sure Pigtails was safe." Gajeel shrugged.

Makarov nodded in understanding and moved to the bag. Right before he could reach it though, the metal sphere that had been completely motionless until then flew off the table and started protecting the bag. It let out little hums and vibrations of warning. Both Makarov and Gajeel went on the defensive, wary of the unknown. Makarov's eyes flickered to the child and to his astonishment she was still unconscious. He recognized this type of magic, it was Seith magic. The type that Bickslow used. However, the soul trapped in that sphere should not be active while it's mage was unconscious. The souls should enter a sleep mode whenever their mage slept as well.

"Gajeel go get Bickslow immediately." Makarov barked his order. He enlarged his hand to block the exit. He didn't think the sphere would make a break for it, especially since it seemed to just be protecting his mage's belongings. It wouldn't make sense for him to leave his mage either. There was a distance limit, it wouldn't make it far out of Fairy Tail before it deactivated.

Gajeel rushed out of the room and found Bickslow still sitting by Evergreen and Freed. Laxus was out on a solo mission right now so these three would probably just laze around until he got back. He walked quickly over to the trio before grabbing the Seith mage by the arm and started dragging him towards the infirmary.

"What the hell man, let go." Bickslow yelled out as he tried to get out of the Iron Dragon Slayer's hold.

"The old man needs you in the infirmary." Gajeel said, sending a serious look to the Seith mage.

Bickslow saw the look and stopped struggling and instead started walking quickly with the Dragon Slayer, "What's going on?" he asked.

"Help. Help. Help." His totems chattered around the two as they followed their mage.

"There is a situation upstairs that needs your specific expertise." Was all Gajeel told him before letting him go. He knew that Bickslow would easily follow him now.

As they entered the medical bay, they saw Makarov trying to settle the metal sphere down. Not that they could see but Bickslow raised an eyebrow as he looked at the panicked soul.

"Whose totem is that?" Bickslow asked confused. He was the only Seith mage in Fairy Tail and Seith magic wasn't the most popular magic to begin with. It was black magic after all, though with how he used it he liked to think of it more as grey magic.

"The girl's here, I need you to restrain this soul if you are able." Makarov said.

Bickslow's eyes went wide in disbelief, "But, she's unconscious." Her magic would have to be exceptionally strong for her to be able to do that, along with years of research on Seith magic. All in all, it should be impossible for one her age. If he was absolutely serious about it, he would be able to keep one of his babies awake while he slept, in about ten years of dedication to attempting it.

Bickslow shook his head of those thoughts and extended his magic to the new soul. He focused on the metal totem. He had to be careful not to completely suppress it as he didn't want to claim the soul from the kid, that would be cruel of him. He just needed to keep the totem still. Making a totem out of metal was pretty impressive as well. Wood was the easiest thing to bond a soul to as it was born of nature. Metal took a lot more effort and focus to bond the soul to. He attached his magic to the sphere as his babies surrounded it in an effort to corral it. As he started feeling the connection to the soul his heart felt like it fell to his stomach. The soul wasn't bonded to the sphere at all, not really. It was more like the soul was temporarily possessing the puppet body. This soul was tethered directly to the kid's own soul. That was dangerous dark magic, how in the world had this kid managed that? Until he talked to the kid himself, which he was going to insist about, he wasn't going to tell even the master about the soul tether. He ignored that for the moment and managed to grab hold of the sphere. It was vibrating in anger and letting out hums of protest as it tried to get back to it's mage. He couldn't exactly blame the soul; his own totems would fight tooth and nail to get back to him as well if they were separated.

"Thank you Bickslow, are you able to keep hold of it?" Makarov said as all of his limbs shrunk to their normal size.

"Yeah I got the little guy." Bickslow answered. He was able to sense that the soul was male, but strangely that was all he was able to get from him. This soul was extremely hard to read, almost like it was protecting its thoughts and memories from him.

Makarov let out a sigh of relief as Bickslow grabbed hold of the frantic soul. This was turning out to be a rather exciting adventure. Well Natsu was the one to bring her back and, well, excitement seemed to follow him everywhere. He turned one more time to make sure that Bickslow did indeed have ahold of the troublesome sphere. Then he made his way to the girl's bag. He did feel bad about invading the child's privacy but learning more about the mysterious girl took priority. He grabbed the bag and opened it up. There wasn't all that much inside of it, which made him wonder what the soul was trying to protect. The first thing he pulled out was a makeshift med kit, it was rather low on supplies. He then pulled out a rather old and well used stuffed bunny rabbit. The next thing he pulled out was a stack of letters bundled together and a rolled-up piece of parchment. He set the letters aside for the moment, if he could avoid reading those he would, and unrolled the parchment. To his surprise it was a map of Earthland, though it didn't quite match what it should look like. Areas were colored in red, there were places X'd off in red and other areas circled in both black and green. There were notes written in random places some of them consisted of; uninhabitable, safe, no-man land, unsafe, hideouts, enemy base, and travel roads. He rolled it back up and placed it aside, hopefully this was just an elaborate table top game map. If it wasn't, he didn't even want to think what that map might mean. He pulled out a couple books that consisted of basic magic theory, expanding your magic core, and a single fiction book. The last thing he pulled out was a thick book; it had no title and the only thing on the cover was the Fair Tail symbol.

He heard the sphere's vibrations get more intense the moment he grabbed the book so he tried to open the book to see what was inside of it. Tried being the key word, to his astonishment he was unable to open it at all. The cover would not budge in the slightest, what an odd thing for the child to be carrying around. And why did it have the guild mark on the cover? He turned to Gajeel, "Do you think you could bring Levy up here. I'd like her to take a look at this book really quick."

Gajeel hesitated for a moment, he didn't really want to bring his Shrimp into this situation, but he wasn't going to go against the old man either. He grunted his acknowledgement before leaving the room.

Bickslow made his way to the chair next to the kid and made himself comfortable. He wouldn't be able to move too far from the kid as long as he needed to restrain the sphere. Not only did he feel bad for the soul in the sphere, who would want to be near his mage, but he didn't know how far he could safely take this soul away from his mage. With his own babies they could go 50 feet before they started slowing down in their response times. At the moment 70 feet was their max distance before they went into hibernation mode immediately. However, his babies were connected directly to their totems, if their totems somehow got destroyed then their souls would just make their way back to him and wait for him to make a new totem for them. This soul however was connected to the kid's soul, and he had no idea what would happen if he took the soul out of its range. Or what the range even was, who knew it could be much shorter of a distance than his own being connected directly to her soul. He didn't want to damage either of the souls in doing that. So, for now he was content to just sit and wait. He had questions of his own he wanted answered from the girl.

Moments later Gajeel entered back into the room with Levy right behind him. Levy moved past her much larger partner, "What did you need my help with Master?"

"Levy dear, do you think you could take a look at this book. I think it may present a good amount of a challenge. I can't seem to open the book up, it's magically sealed and I don't want to wreck it in my attempts to open it. Perhaps you will be able to bypass the seal on it." Makarov explained.

A determined look appeared in Levy's eyes as she grabbed the book. Without even being briefed on the situation she knew that something serious was going on. The fact that Bickslow was still here, holding onto a metal sphere that was trying to escape his grasp, told a lot. She made her way over to an empty cot and started pushing her magic at the sealed book. She would figure out how to open this book, one way or another.

"What do you plan on doing Old Man?" Gajeel asked as he leaned against the closed door, so nobody could try to sneak in at the moment. They were making a bit of a scene with Gajeel going down to keep grabbing people.

"At this point we will have to either have to wait until the child wakes up, or Levy manages to unlock the book that might give us some clues." Makarov explained.

"Did she have anything else that might give me a clue to this book Master?" Levy asked.

"Ah, yes. Here, see if any of these can help you." Makarov answered as he handed Levy the books, map, and unread letters.

Levy gave her thanks before returning her attention to her project. Everyone in the room settled in for the long run. Simply waiting until the child woke up and was able to answer their questions.


	2. Chapter 2

Bickslow shifted slightly, his nerves building as they all sat there in silence. The only noises were people's breathing and Levy's little grunts of frustration. So, it looked like little miss bookworm couldn't figure out the book. He glanced around the room to see what everyone else was doing. Gajeel was practically asleep in a chair across the room, though he knew that he would be wide awake with the slightest of noise. Levy had hardly moved besides going through all of the kid's stuff to try and unlock the book. The Master was sitting in a chair close to the girl, a thoughtful look upon his face. Probably trying to figure some stuff out. Bickslow himself hadn't moved from the spot he had plopped down on before. It was the middle of the night now; everyone had gone home for the night. The guild home was locked down for the night.

The totem in his hands suddenly started vibrating a bit more. He looked down at it in confusion before his eyes flickered to the girl. Just in time to see her fingers twitch slightly. She was waking up. He frowned slightly, there were things he wanted to ask her alone. Mostly about her magic and the connection to her totem. However, he also wanted to do it before anyone else got a chance to talk to her. He turned back to Master Makarov.

"Hey master? It looks like the kid might wake up soon." Bickslow started.

Makarov looked up, "Really? How long until she wakes up do you think?"

"A few minutes maybe?" he gave a sigh, "Listen I was wondering if I could talk to her first, alone? There are some things I need to talk to her about. You know, Seith mage to Seith mage?"

Makarov looked at Bickslow seriously before nodding solemnly, "Very well my child. Call us back in when you are finished." Makarov said before getting up. Gajeel who had obviously been listening to everything got up and grabbed Levy under one of his arms before following the master out of the door. Levy was kicking her feet trying to get out ranting how she hadn't finished yet.

To Bickslow's surprise the totem started relaxing a bit as the people left. Maybe he was just nervous to be so outnumbered. Bickslow shrugged slightly, not like it mattered much in the long run. True to his thoughts the kid started waking up a few minutes later.

As Zera started waking up it was a slow and long process. The first thing she noticed was that she was no longer in pain. She hadn't realized just how much pain she had been in until it was gone. What had all happened all came back to her at once and she forced herself to stay still. Where was she? She could feel that she was on a bed, an extremely comfortable bed. So, she couldn't be at the nearest safehouse. Most of the safehouses had cots, or really old beds at this point. The only place she could think of that would have nice beds like this was the main guild hall. That was their permanent base upon Tenrou Island. There were a few people that stayed there at all times, safely behind an extremely strong barrier created and sustained by Uncle Freed. Though she didn't hear any of the usual ruckus that was there all of the time, plus she had been a long way from Tenrou so the chances of being brought there was low. With that knowlege she couldn't be with in any of the Fairy Tail safehouses. Or any of the allied guilds as they were in the same shape they were. No, terror started building within her. Was she with the enemy? Did Zeref have her? Oh Mavis, was she in Alvarez Empire? She could feel the panic building within her and she forcefully pushed it down. She couldn't afford to have a breakdown at the moment. She could have a panic attack when she was sure she was alone and wouldn't be killed in the middle of it. Not that she expected to be killed right away if she was in the grasp of the enemy. They wouldn't have healed her and left her on a bed this comfy if they planned to kill her. Practically everyone knew who she was because of her father. Her best guess was that their plan was to try triggering a Stockholm syndrome with her, try and make her switch sides. Make her spill all of her secrets and everything she knows. They had tried that with a few different people over the years, not that it ever worked. Well they would be rudely mistaken when they realized just how stubborn she could be.

The training her dad made her sit through ran through her head. Take stock of her surroundings first. If she was possibly in enemy hands, first off don't let them know you are awake. She was pretty sure that she hadn't given herself away as of yet, so step one was hopefully complete. Step two was using her other senses to try and figure out what was around her. Through the soul connection she could tell that Bix was very close to her, thankfully, but he was being restrained somehow. She could feel his frantic struggles to get to her, so there was someone else in the room. She could then hear the breath of the other person, listening carefully she could tell there was only one. So, she had a chance. Not saying she was so cocky to say she could take on a mage older and more experienced than her by herself. But if she took them by surprise and freed Bix then she had a chance to escape. She made sure not to change her breathing but she smelled the air around her. While she didn't have dragon slayer magic like her dad, she did get slightly enhanced senses from him. All she could smell was medical supplies. So, she was in a hospital of some sort. That might not be good, she really hoped they weren't into experimentation. There wasn't anything else she could take stock on, so now she had to make a choice. Let the other person in the room know she was awake, or attack without warning. But did she have enough magic to do as much as she needed? Probably not at this point; she had been pretty drained to begin before the fight with Marlette, the demon they had been fighting, she was still just as drained. Fighting would not get her far; she would probably be caught long before she could get far.

So, with a heavy heart she decided to simply open her eyes and look and see where she was. She opened her eyes and immediately shut them again with a whimper. It was so bright! It had been so long since she was trapped in the world of blackness. Her eyes weren't used to the brightness. She started opening her eyes once again, only this time slowly. When she finally managed to open them, and keep them open she looked around slowly. She was indeed within an infirmary. The sterile looking beds lined up against the wall indicated that much. As she turned her head to look at the person in the room with her and her eyes went wide in disbelief.

No, there was absolutely no way. It wasn't possible. He died; he is dead. He died when she was three, protecting her. He was her constant companion and protector. She had only seen pictures of the human version of Bickslow, she had been too young to remember him from before he had died. She glanced down slightly and saw Bix in his hands and her confusion grew. How was there two of him? Did the human version know he was holding his own soul within his hands? What was going on? Was this some type of crazy plot of the enemy? She made eye contact with Bix and opened the mind link.

"_Bix, what is going on?"_ she asked in a panic.

"_You need to stay calm; we aren't in enemy territory. Or at least I don't think so. If we are, they are getting very creative. That woman from the black world sent us to the past, I think. If I'm right this is at the minimum, fourteen years ago." _Bix explained as best as he could.

"_The past!" _Zera screamed in her mind while shutting down the mind link for now. She saw Bix flinched at her sharp screech but otherwise calmed down in the other person's hands.

"You good kid?" Bickslow asked as the totem finally settled down. The two had seemed to be sharing a conversation and he had let them. Maybe it would make her a bit calmer when she turned her attention onto him.

The kid looked up at him, her startling grey eyes bore into him, "I am fine, considering everything. Where am I?" Bickslow raised an eyebrow, she was rather calm for her situation. Was she truly that calm, or was she just super good at faking it?

Bickslow gave a small shrug, "A couple of our members found you out in the forest and brought you back to our guild. You're in Fairy Tail kid."

Zera frowned in thought, so the story seemed true for the moment. She was in Fairy Tail, at least fourteen years in the past. So, then this was before even Fey was born. How weird was that to even think about?

"Fairy Tail? Really?" Zera asked slowly. Just who was that woman and how strong was she to have sent her this far into the past? She had heard of time-stop magic, and time reversion magic, but even that didn't go back that far, a few minutes if that. Just what type of magic could send someone back so far?

"Without a doubt kiddo." Bickslow said before letting out a sigh, "Listen kid I need you to answer a few questions before I call back in the guild master."

"What questions?" Zera asked cautiously. Was this the interrogation part?

"Kid do you know how dangerous the magic you used is? It could have killed you and completely destroyed both of your souls in the process." Bickslow suddenly burst out. Being a Seith mage meant he had a great respect for souls, and for her to risk not only her own but the one in his hands as well was very disconcerting.

"Dangerous?" Zera asked confused. How did he know what kind of magic she used? How was her magic dangerous, and how did it risk any soul? She had lightning magic. Besides ramping up the voltage to a deadly amount, there wasn't really anything particularly dangerous with her magic. She tended to use it to entertain the little kids in fact. With a low enough voltage and enough control lighting magic could emit small sparkles. The kids loved chasing them around, trying to catch them.

"Do you not have any idea? How did you manage it without knowing anything about it then?" Bickslow asked confused. Doing something like that took years of study and practice. Why was she playing stupid?

"Do what? What are you talking about?" Zera asked, extremely confused. What did Bickslow think she did?

"Don't play stupid, I know Seith magic when I see it. You tied this soul directly to yours; do you have any idea just how dangerous that magic is kid?" Bickslow barked out.

"Seith magic?" Zera asked slowly before understanding dawned in her eyes, "Uh, no you misunderstand. I'm not a Seith mage, I have lightning magic." She said and demonstrated, holding up her hands as sparks danced between her fingers, "See?" she said shyly.

Bickslow looked at the girl with wide eyes, "How?" he asked looking down totem in his hands, it was obviously created using Seith magic and it was attached to the kid. So how? He looked back up to the kid, "So how in the hell do you have this totem, huh?"

Zera's eyes widened as she finally understood what he was asking, "Oh." She stupidly said as she thought of an excuse. She couldn't exactly say that he was holding his own soul, could she? That would seem a bit cruel to suddenly throw at someone. It wasn't like she had changed his name too much after he died. She hadn't been able to pronounce his full name when she was younger so she had always called him Uncle Bix. He had told her to keep calling her Bix instead of Bickslow after his death, it would be less painful for the rest of the guild. Having him around, but him not being able to truly be part of the group. Communicating with his friends and family had to be done solely through her. Since she wasn't a Seith mage she couldn't make her totem talk, they could only talk through mental communication.

"Well?" Bickslow prompted.

"Um, you see. The soul connection is my totem's doing. He was a Seith mage, but he died trying to protect me. He was my godfather and felt a sense of responsibility for my safety. I don't know why he did it, why he didn't just move on. But he chose to stay with me and bonded himself to me. He's been with me since I was three, it's just normal for me now." She glanced at the sphere and smirked; she couldn't help teasing him, "Couldn't get rid of him if I wanted to." she stuck her tongue out at him playfully.

Bix vibrated at her playfully angry, _"Brat." _She heard him say.

Bickslow looked between the two of them and understanding dawned within him, it hadn't been her magic at all. It had been a fully grown and experienced Seith mage. That mage's power must have been exponential to have performed that connection spell even as he was dying. Especially with his own soul. Well that at least answered that question, this kid wasn't a dark mage in training. Not that he imagined the soul was dark, but if anything, this kid would have been the victim in this scenario.

His curiosity was sated for now, "Alright babies, why don't you go get the master."

Zera watched with excited eyes as five wooden totems flew up and circled around Bickslow chanting, "Master, master, master." Before flying towards the door.

"They can talk!" Zera exclaimed excitedly as she watched them fly off, "How do you make them talk?" she asked.

"Yeah, I had noticed yours had stayed unusually quiet, but I had figured that was because you were unconscious." Bickslow said with a shrug before continuing, "But if you're not a Seith mage making them talk would be rather difficult. How much are you able to control your totem?"

Neither of them really noticed the door opening and the Master, Gajeel, and Levy coming back into the room. Zera thought for a moment before answering his question, "Well we share a telepathic connection so we can talk to each other that way. I've learned just enough Seith magic to be able to control B… my totem slightly. Now full control, but I can nudge him in the direction I want." It was probably best to refrain from calling him by his name quite yet. She continued, "Though he usually just does his own thing. So, pretty much just the base minimum. The first thing I learned though was how to give him his own body. It took me a couple years of studying it along side my own magic, but I eventually got it. Until that point, he just kinda followed me around and nagged at me a lot. I used wooden totems at first, but then my uncle pointed out that a metal totem would be a lot more compatible with my magic. Plus, it would be a lot less destructible. The wooden totems got destroyed quite a bit and it's a pain to keep putting him inside new totems."

"Makes sense I guess." Bickslow said with a shrug. If she had a soul tether to a previous Seith mage, then his magic would probably give her own a boost to help her access a second type of magic.

"Wait, you're not a Seith mage?" Makarov asked, surprise tinting his voice.

Zera jumped slightly at the unexpected new voice but shook her head, "Nope, like I told your guild mate. I practice lightning magic. I'm a lightning mage." Lightning sparked around her as proof once again, "See." She said without looking towards who had spoken. When she did turn to look however her eyes went wide, and tears pooled within them. No way, she hadn't even thought about it with being this far in the past. Being back so far meant this was before the first war with Alvarez. That meant her grandpa Makarov was still alive. She would get to meet her grandpa!

Makarov's eyes went wide and he started panicking slightly as tears started running down the child's cheeks as she caught sight of him, "Ah, child. Are you alright?"

Zera nodded and started rubbing at her eyes, "I'm fine. Really, I'm sorry. I don't mean to cry…. It's just…" how was she to explain? She kept whipping the tears from her eyes, she had always wanted to meet her grandpa Makarov. She had heard so many stories from all of her family members about how great her grandpa used to be.

"I am sorry to have to question you so soon after you have woken up, but I do need answers." He felt bad having to ask while she was crying, but he needed to know. For the safety of his guild, "How do you have our guild mark child?"

She looked up at him with wide, tear-filled eyes. She glanced at her shoulder and realized that her wound had gotten rewrapped and her guild mark was in full view. These people wouldn't know her, so her having a guild mark would be beyond suspicious. Oh god what was she supposed to say?

She felt Bix trying to contact her through the link and she opened it up, _"Tell them. Tell them everything kid, they might not believe you at first. But they will eventually."_

"_Even your younger self? Do you really want him to know that he is going to die?" _Zera asked glancing at Bickslow.

"_That is not necessarily this Bickslow's fate. That lady that sent us here said that the timeline would split the moment that we showed up here. That means that we can warn this version of Fairy Tail and maybe they can save their future. Ours will always be what it is, but perhaps we can save them." _Bix explained.

"_Is it really the best idea to let everyone know?" _Zera asked uncertainly, _"That could get a bit dangerous."_

"_So, make the old man swear to secrecy, nothing you say in this room leaves it. He should accept to those terms. He's pretty understanding all things considered. That would mean everyone in this room would know, but nobody else unless you choose to tell them." _Bix compromised.

"_Hmm. That could work. Okay Bix, I'm trusting you on this." _Zera said before turning her attention back to her grandpa, a serious look on her face.

Makarov had guessed about her having a conversion with her totem, and he let her. He could be patient; she was probably a bit scared. When she turned serious eyes back onto him, he knew she had made up her mind. "Child?"

"First of all, what I have to say will seem outlandish and hard to believe, but everything I have to say is true. Second of all, I want your word that everything I say will not leave this room. At least for now." Zera pleaded.

Makarov saw how serious she was about this and nodded his head in agreement, "As long as what you say doesn't threaten any of my children, nothing you say will leave this room. We will also do our best to believe your words."

Zera took a deep calming breath before starting, "First of all, my name is Zera. My partner over there, his name is Bix."

"Nice to meet you Zera." Makarov said before turning to Bickslow and Bix, huh their names were similar, what were the odds? "By the way Bickslow I believe you can release the totem. He won't do anything I don't think."

Zera nodded quickly in agreement, "Yeah Bix won't do anything, I promise. I'll even keep hold of him myself." It would settle her mind a bit to have hold of her friend. She always felt better when she hugged him.

Bickslow shrugged, "Sure." And without hesitation release his hold on the totem both physically and magically. The totem floated in front of him briefly before rushing into the waiting arms of his mage. Bickslow smiled as the kid, Zera, hugged her spirit to her and the spirit was practically vibrating with happiness. It was a nice sign to see. The kid couldn't be dark if she treated her spirit well.

"Thank you." She said before clearing her throat, "Now I want you to let me finish before you say anything. And I know that you'll want to deny what I say, the moment I say my first thing. But please refrain. This will take forever if I'm continuously interrupted."

Makarov nodded in understanding, "That is acceptable, we'll try and hold our tongues."

Zera took a deep breath before just plunging right in, "I believe that I am from the future. I am from the year 807 and we are currently at war with Alvarez and Zeref. I got sent here by a combination of one of Zeref's demons and a lady that rescued me from where the demon sent me. I'm not sure how I'm going to get home, but the lady said it was possible. You wouldn't know about me since I got my guild mark years from now." She didn't really know how much more to explain, but she could see the disbelief on their faces. How was she going to convince them? Then she remembered what she had on her, "Wait I can prove it, well kinda. Where is my bag? There is a book in there that has proof I can show you."

Even though they obviously didn't believe her yet the younger version of Aunt Levy moved toward the bed next to hers and Zera finally noticed all of stuff strewn across the bed. The guild book was at the center of it and a small smirk appeared on her face, they had obviously been trying to open it. They wouldn't be able to though. Dozens of these books had been made, one for each Fairy Tail member. Each book was linked to its owner's own magic so only its owner could open it. They all automatically updated as well with any information put into the master book. Levy was actually the one to invent this in the future, the master copy was kept with her. Copies of it given to the rest of the guild members. Each allied guild had its own version of the book, unique for their guild. Fairy Tail's book consisted of battle plans, a complete member list, locations of hidden safehouses, and her personal favorite family pictures. Each family had their own page, even if someone didn't have a family, they still had their own page. She could show them those pages, the future families of Fairy Tail. Or at least her Fairy Tail's present, with the timeline splitting it could change some. Especially if she was able to give information to keep certain people alive.

Levy picked up the book and gave a small pout, "Is this what you want? What kind of spell is on this thing? Nobody could open it."

"Yup that's the one. You wouldn't have been able to, only I can open it." She took hold of the book from Levy. She sent a small bit of her magic into the book as she opened the cover, with no resistance. She smiled at them, "See? It locks onto my magical signature and that is what opens the book."

Levy's eyes lit up, "That is genius! I need to talk to the person who came up with that."

Zera let out a laugh, "Well you'll have to wait a few more years then."

Levy pouted, "The person who invented the spell isn't alive yet?"

Zera shook her head, "No, their alive. They just haven't come up with it yet."

"Well, who invents it then?"

Zera smirked, "You do." Levy's eyes went wide in disbelief and wonder, "We needed a way to keep certain things secret from the enemy and you eventually came up with this alternative. This is a magical version of the master copy, and it will automatically update with whatever is added to the master copy. Which you also invented. You are our main source of information and are protected at all costs. Only you are able to update the master copy, so if you fall… well Fairy Tail would soon follow. We're able to send messages to the main copy, but not to other copies. It's a one-way road of communication."

Levy stared at her in shock, "I… I invent two new spells?"

Zera laughed slightly, "You have no idea how important you become to us in the future. Never doubt yourself Aunt Levy. You are an amazing mage, and well, I look up to you a lot. A lot of us younger generation does."

Levy's entire face turned red in embarrassment. She decided to shelve that for now and decided to question something else, "Aunt Levy?" Levy didn't have any siblings so why was she calling her aunt? Her knowing her name did help her start to believe the kid. Nobody had introduced themselves to her.

Zera shrugged slightly, completely amused by how easily flustered the younger version of Levy was, "Everyone in Fairy Tail is a family. I call everyone Aunt, Uncle, Cousin, Gramps, or Gran. All of us younger kids do."

"If you are telling the truth, it's nice to know that Fairy Tail never loses its way even through dark times." Makarov said fondly.

"So, how's that book supposed to make us believe ya?" Gajeel grumbled out.

Zera pouted at him, "Just for that I'll start with you." She flipped to the Redfox family page and flipped the book around so they all could see, "This is your family in the future. Gajeel and Levy get married. They also have two kids; Liam who is eleven only six months older than me and is my absolute best friend in the whole wide world, and Evelyn who is six." She glanced back up to see both Gajeel and Levy completely red faced, she could practically see steam above their heads from how warm their faces were, "Believe me now?"

As much as none of them really wanted to, especially saying that they were at war in the future, the proof was indeed there. The two people in the picture were indeed an older version of the dragon slayer and solid script mage. The two kids in the picture were adorable. The boy, Liam, was leaning against his mom. His arms were crossed and he was smirking at the camera. He looked a lot like his father, though he had Levy's blue hair tied into a low pony tail at the base of his neck. The girl, Evelyn, was sitting on her father's shoulder and she was absolutely beaming at the camera. She had spiky black hair that fell down her back and olive-green eyes, the same as Levy. It was clear that it these two kids were the offspring of the two red faced members in the room. "Liam uses Iron maker magic and Eve is studying script magic under her mom."

"Dear Mavis." Makarov said in wonder as he looked at the future of Fairy Tail. She wasn't lying, there was no way that she could have faked a photo to that magnitude. He looked at her with new eyes, if she really was from the future, and he was starting to really believe her. Whose child was she? He voiced his thoughts at looked at her.

A blush appeared on Zera's face and she looked down at the book, "Why don't we end with me? I can show you the others."

She quickly turned to the Fullbuster page, "Grey marries Juvia and they also have two kids; Silver whose ten, and April whose eight." Silver was almost a clone to his dad, though he had his mom's eyes. April looked a lot like her mom though she had black hair and eyes. "Silver is a water mage like his mom, while April chose to follow her dad into ice maker magic." She continued explaining.

Bickslow belted out his signature laugh, "Oh, I'm sure Juvia was over the moon about that."

She gave them a moment to look at the family before moving onto the next. She flipped to the Dragneel page, "Natsu marries Lucy, they have four kids at the moment but Auntie Lucy is pregnant again right now. Her first kid is Nali, she's a fire dragon slayer just like her dad." Nali was a major town boy keeping her bright pink hair short and wild, her brown eyes shining in excitement. "Igneel is their second child, he is seven. He has fire magic as well though he isn't a dragon slayer." Igneel has messy hair as well though it was blonde, his eyes were the same black as his dad. He was super shy as he was hiding behind Lucy in the photo. "Then there is Layla and Mavis, the twins. They just turned three a couple months ago. Layla is just showing signs of having fire magic as well. Lucy said that Mavis is showing potential to become a celestial mage. Lucy plans on handing her keys down to her when she retires." Both of the twins had light pink hair and black eyes. They were holding hands and sending the camera mischievous grins, "We call them the terror twins because they are always causing grief around them."

"Holy crap Lu-Lu has so many kids, and she's having another one?" Levy said shocked, though happy for her best friend.

Gajeel noticed something about Natsu that made him frown slightly, "What happened to Natsu's face?"

"Oh, he got that scar during the first war when he fought Zeref one on one." Zera explained as she flipped to the next family page. The Conbolt's, "Romeo and Wendy recently got married, about three years ago and they have one kid. Ava is two years old and she's showing signs of having wind magic. We aren't sure if she's going to be a dragon slayer or not yet. Same as Layla actually." Ava had purple hair tied up in tiny pig-tails. Her black eyes shined happily as she clung to her dad.

Makarov's eyes grew wide, "Romeo and Wendy? Really? I didn't see that one coming, it's so odd seeing them old enough to have kids." Romeo grew up to look a lot like his dad and Wendy looked exactly like her Edolas self.

Once again Zera paused to let the memorize things before flipping to the next family. She turned to the Fernandes page, "Erza and Jellal get married and they have two kids, but Erza is pregnant again. Victoria and Simon are twins and they are nine. Simon uses requip like his mom. Vic uses energy magic. She can shoot off beams, exploding spheres, and whips of energy. Plus, she's starting to get the hang of getting using platforms of energy to fly around on or use as steps." Victoria had long blue hair while Simon had short and neat red. They both had dark brown eyes.

"Jellal!" Levy shouted in surprise.

Zera tilted her head, "Well yeah. They are really sweet together actually. I mean, why not Uncle Jellal?"

They all shared a look, Jellal must have redeemed himself in the future, "Ah, it's not important child." Makarov said.

Zera shrugged before moving onto the next group, "Uncle Elfman married Aunt Evergreen. Actually, not too long from this point in time, a year at the most I'd guess. They have two kids; Fey who just turned fourteen, and Lily who is seven. Fey uses fairy magic just like her mom." She had long and straight white hair, brown eyes, and a look of superiority about her. Zera looked a bit uncomfortable, as she said, "She has pretty strong magic and takes fighting the enemy seriously. But, um… how do I put this nicely? She can be a bit full of herself, and she likes to boss everyone around her around. She takes patience to be around." She explained with a shrug. "Lily however is an absolute sweet heart, she's practicing takeover magic." Lily had light brown hair and dark blue eyes and was happily hugging her dad around the neck in the photo.

"Well I think everyone saw that one coming." Gajeel chuckled and Levy quickly agreed.

"The next is Freed and Cana." Zera said flipping to their page. She didn't notice everyone's eyes grow wide as she found the Justine family page. Freed and Cana was even more bizarre than Romeo and Wendy. "They only have one kid; his name is Lucas and he's eight. He's a pretty calm kid and he is learning both of his parent's magic actually. He's extremely smart and a bit of a prodigy." Lucas has same color hair as his mom and bright blue eyes like his dad. His long hair was tied into a low ponytail and it fell to the middle of his back. Everyone noticed Freed's hair and shock filled their system. He had super short hair, barely falling around his ears. What had made Freed cut his hair, he was super proud of his long hair.

"The last major one with one member from our guild is Aunt Lisanna. Lisanna had a falling out with, her sister, and spends most of her time at the Sabretooth guild. She actually married the master of Sabretooth, Sting. They have two kids; Emmie who's six, and Kara who's four. Emmie practices takeover magic, while Kara inherited her dad's white dragon slayer magic." Emmie had bright blonde hair and blue eyes. Kara had white hair with blue eyes.

Zera turned the book to face herself and flipped to her own family page. She felt tears start forming in her eyes and she quickly blinked them away before they would hopefully notice. She took a deep calming breath, "Then I guess there is my family." She steadied herself for the upcoming reaction before turning the book to show them her page, "My dad is Laxus Dreyar, the ninth master of Fairy Tail, and my mom is Mirajane Dreyar, Fairy Tail's strongest female mage. My full name is Zera Dreyar, I was named after first master Mavis' best friend and I am almost eleven years old. I have a younger brother whose name is Makarov, in honor of well…" she looked up at Makarov and saw his tear pooled eyes, "You."

The room was silent, absolutely silent. Makarov took a step towards her, "You are… I am…" he couldn't seem to finish a sentence.

So, Zera looked at him with slightly weary eyes, "Hello great grandpa. It's nice to finally meet you."


End file.
